Play games together on your TV and phones

In Signal, Games are multiplayer board, card, dice and quiz games. The TV is the table, phones are your private hands (your cards, your answers), and a TV with only a remote works too: play against the computer, or take turns on the same screen. People far away join in a browser from a link, with no account.

Start a game. Open Games in Signal (on the TV, under your profile; on a phone or in the browser, in More), pick a game, choose its options and start a room. The TV shows a five-letter code and a QR code; everyone scans it or types the code, then sits down. Add a computer player fills any empty seat, so a game starts with whoever is there.
On the TV with the remote. Choose Play on this TV: the arrows move between the squares, cards or buttons and OK picks. Games where nothing is hidden (chess, checkers) let one TV take turns for everyone. Games with private cards or answers need a phone for each person, or the computer to play the other seats.
Far away. Invite someone far away makes a link that works once and lasts a day. Whoever opens it gives a name and joins that one game from a browser, over Signal's away address if you have one. Members with Signal from away join with their account. You can turn guests from away off below.
Saved games. A game in progress with people at the table is saved on this computer after every move and lasts two weeks, so chess with a relative can take days and carry on after a restart, with the same code. Lobbies and finished games close half an hour after the last screen leaves.
If someone leaves. The game pauses and waits for them for a minute and a half. If they don't come back, a computer player plays their seat so the game goes on, and keeps it for them: open the game again from Your games and the seat is yours. Leave the game on the pause screen hands your seat to the computer at once.
Your games. Every game you are in is listed with where it stands (Paused, Saved, Playing now) and when it was last played. Continue opens it where it was.

Pause and resume

Every game can be paused. On the TV press the Pause button at the start of the bar above the table (▲ from the game) or the remote's play/pause key; on a phone or in a browser use the round pause button at the top. The host pauses at once; another player asks and the others say Yes or No. While a game is paused nothing moves: no move is accepted, the computer players wait, turn clocks stand still and the music and the commentator stop. Resume counts 3, 2, 1 and carries on with the same time left on the clock.

It pauses by itself. When a player's connection drops, when a voice call starts on a player's screen, and when the host's app goes to the background. When the call ends or the host comes back, it counts 3-2-1 and carries on. You can turn each of these off under Settings → Music, DJ & games → Games → Pausing, and choose how long to wait for a player who dropped (a game can also be set up so it keeps going).
A long pause is saved. After half an hour the screens are told the game was saved and close it; it waits in Your games for up to two weeks and comes back paused.
The pause screen. Resume, How to play (the game's rules in a few short sentences), Settings (sound, and what happens when someone drops out) and Leave the game. Two-player games such as chess, checkers and Drop Four also offer Take back my last move and Offer a draw (the other player has to agree; against the computer a take-back needs no one's agreement) and Give up.

The store

Under Games → Store on any screen you can browse every game: its picture, how many people it takes, how long it lasts, whether it needs phones, and its size. Add downloads it once, to this computer, with the same progress on every screen; when it's done it appears in Games on every device. Nothing is installed on the TV or the phones, and a new version or a new game reaches everyone without updating an app. A game that is being played keeps the version it started with until it ends. Reelhost checks each game's size and its signature before it installs one, and a game can only compute: it can't touch your files or the network.

On your computer

Under Settings → Music, DJ & games → Games: see the installed games, Add or Update games from the store, and Remove one (not while it is being played; removing is done on the computer or by an admin in Signal, not from a phone). Choose who may start a game (everyone, grown-ups only, or only admins), who may add games (only admins, or any grown-up), whether guests may join from away, whether whoever starts a game may turn text chat on, and whether what people type in games goes through the word filter.

Sound, music and the commentator

Games have sound effects (a piece set down, cards dealt, dice, a win), background music and a commentator who calls the game like a sports caster, a card dealer or a quiz host. The sounds and music are made by Reelhost itself, so there is nothing to download for them. The commentator speaks with the DJ's AI voice (one download, in the DJ's settings) and speaks English; until the voice is there, what it would say shows as words on screen. You choose one of two voices for every game: Host (warm and unhurried) or Hype (quicker and brighter).

Your choices. Under Settings → Music, DJ & games → Games → Sound: the commentator (Off, Light for only the big moments, Normal or Lively), the voice, music (Off, Low, Normal), sound effects, words on screen, gentler wording when a kids profile is in the game, and Quiet hours (no commentary or music, softer effects).
For one game. Whoever starts a game can change the commentator, voice, music and effects for that room before or during play. Each person can also turn the sound down or off on their own screen, and Signal's Calm option leaves the music off and keeps the effects gentle.
Where it plays. The TV plays the commentator and the music. Your own phone ticks for your own move. If there is no TV, one screen speaks, so the room doesn't echo; a player far away hears the game on their own screen. The commentator stays quiet while someone is on a voice call.

Safe for children

Reactions (a few fixed faces) are always on. Text chat is off unless you allow it here and the person who started the game turns it on, and it is never on for a kids profile. Typed names and answers go through a word filter, links are refused, and the person who started a game can remove anyone from it. Kids profiles can play but can't start games with guests. Nothing about a game leaves this computer.

Games are part of Reelhost Complete (browsing the store is free). Guests and people at the table need nothing of their own. When you remove Reelhost, the games it downloaded go; your settings and games in progress are kept unless you remove everything.